How They Terrorized and Corrupted Boston for a Quarter Century
October 24, 2005
Although superior to some other tellings of the incredible story of how two brothers came to dominate Boston's political and criminal underworlds for decades, this account by veteran Boston Herald
reporter Carr still falls short of being the definitive version he intended. The stranger-than-fiction rise to power of Billy Bulger, the longtime Massachusetts senate president, kingmaker and consummate deal maker, and his brother Whitey, a psychopathic killer who took over the city's Irish mobs, is compelling, but despite Carr's closeness to the story, he fails to bring his protagonists' inner world to life. For those broadly familiar with the corruption scandal that indelibly tarred the FBI because of the active role some of its agents took in protecting Whitey and enabling his brutalities, the author gives a detailed, hit-by-hit description of his crimes. Most readers from outside the Bay State will be almost as appalled at the wheeling and dealing of his "respectable" brother, who crossed path with presidents and presidential aspirants, and who extended his patronage practices to his subsequent position as president of the University of Massachusetts.
May 1, 2006
Pritchard sounds so much like actor David Strathairn of Good Night and Good Luck
in this compelling audio version of Boston journalist Carr's book about William and Whitey Bulger, that listeners might imagine the late Edward R. Murrow telling this fantastic story. Pritchard, a heralded veteran of more than 430 audiobooks, minimizes any moments of possible melodrama, subtly catching instead the superb irony of two brothers who rose to the heights of their chosen careers. Billy was a political powerhouse and kingmaker who was president of the Massachusetts senate and head of the University of Massachusetts. Whitey (born James) was a psychotic gangster who used such tools as flagrant murder and FBI corruption on his climb to the role of chief of Boston's flourishing Irish mobs and who has now disappeared. Anyone who doesn't know the details of the Bulgers' amazing dual saga will find them all spelled out in Pritchard's clean, understated delivery, which makes the whole thing even more incredible. Simultaneous release with the Warner hardcover (Reviews, Oct. 24).